Sword Art Online: Intelligence Force
by Alfmi
Summary: I like KiritoxAsuna as much as the next guy, but I got a little bored with reading that, and it seemed like KiritoxArgo was by far the rarest pairing, so this is my take on it. (Updates planned for over the summer between trips) K for now, but it's set to move. Criticism is appreciated, but I have feelings and I'm not a real author. (Real Genre is Adventure/Humor/Romance)


AN: There isn't a single story that has exclusively this paring, so I thought I'd try this out.

I will try to keep it as realistic as possible, but it's hard when most of the stuff I know is from you guys.

Comments and suggestions are welcomed, but for your own ideas, please think about whether it's weak, usable, or totally unique before you let me see it; ideas in the last two categories should be saved for your own stories (unless you're never going to make them :P).

I do plan on making him ridiculously strong, just not strong to the point where I think it'd lower story quality. I'm also going to leave out Sachi, because if it weren't for him, they'd probably never have considered themselves ready for a dungeon of that level, and just keep leveling in the fields where it's safe.

* * *

Kirito paid the innkeeper for his meal before walking up to his room. It was a wooden lodge in a town near the City of Beginnings, but it was as far as he really needed to go to escape the hordes of panicked players that we're going to start flooding the feilds. The road to get here was longer than it needed to be, but the path had been much safer considering his level, and left him getting a good amount of experience and col after he made it through.

The room had a queen-sized bed against the middle of the back wall with a desk on either side, and a window on the right side of the bed. Kirito had turned the lights on since it was 10:00 PM and sunset was long gone. As he lay on the bed, he thought about what he could do before going to sleep. He went through a mental check list that included checking on his col and xp, which made him feel satisfactory as he did since he knew it was probably twice what the average beta tester had for now.

His thoughts wandered to his friends list, which looked pretty empty. He tapped the new addition, Klein, and sent him a PM asking him how he was doing. After waiting for a few seconds, he got a short reply from Klein saying that he'd found his friends and was going to spend the night with them in the city. Kirito wasn't surprised, the city was built for 10,000 people and so it wouldn't be hard to find cheap lodgings, and it wasn't all that necessary to leave yet because people would still be pretty shaken up in the morning, meaning they wouldn't be farming the boars or traveling.

With his mind off of his new friend's welfare, it turned to the other half of his friend list. He tapped their username and sent them a PM similar to the one he'd sent to Klein. He figured there was nothing else to do, and it didn't seem like he was getting a reply immediately since they would be busy with the project they'd planned to start once the beta ended, so they'd be working on it regardless of any sort of situation. She worked like that. He got into his bed and let sleep overcome him. He wasn't panicking like most of the players, but learning that he'd been trapped in a death game wasn't exactly something he was able feel content about.

He woke up late the next day. Judging by the angle of the sun (which was trying to burn off his face), it was around eight in the morning. He noticed that unlike normal mornings, he immediately remembered what he was doing last night. (In a game it would make sense that sleep would be less of a process and more of a 'pick-me-up') He checked is PM's, and saw that he'd received a PM from his other friend. While Klein's response was obvious, this was way off what Kirito had come to expect from their reply.

* * *

To: Kirito

Time Sent: 10.23 PM

Hey! I know you must REALLY wanna see me, but I still have some more business to take care of. The hotel your staying at is a few buildings away from one of my colaborators that I have to see tomorrow, so I'll be in the area around lunch time. Let's meet up in that cafe across the street at 2:00 sharp, kay? I'll be expecting you Kii-bou. Don't disappoint me.~

Argo

* * *

'Better go, the best information broker in the game is NOT someone I want to be on bad terms with.'

Kirito quicky left his lodge and bought some bread at a market nearby, hunger was easy to ignore, but it was one of those things there was no reason to ignore. His col wasn't going to miss a few pieces for the comfort of food.

He went out to the feilds nearby and started grinding more boars. He might be able to reach level three by lunch if he hurried. He also needed a bit more col if he was going to build that surplus of supplies that was so nice to have in case of emergencies.

He reached his quota for the day at 1:45. He was level 3, and had a small fraction of experience growing for level 4. He had more than enough col to buy the items that would help him out for the next few floors.

At 1:59 he arrived at the cafe Argo had described in, wearing his black attire that he'd be using until he could replace it... with better black attire. Sitting down at one of the open tables, he started to wait. He was a little surprised that Argo hadn't shown up yet, she had yet to be late to any sort of meeting, and was usualy there early. He was wondering if she was pulling something on him when suddenly-

"Why hello Kii-bou" He felt the breath of whoever was talking to him on the back of his neck.

He quickly jolted around to see a girl with chestnut hair and brown eyes. This new face was completely unmarked, so it took Kirito a second to realize who he was talking to.

"Argo? Is that really you?" Kirito looked at her with a little surprise.

"Don't think that my new looks make me less dangerous. And what's up with you? If it weren't for all that black you were wearing I would've thought that you were someone else." She paused a moment to look at his face before continuing, "And besides, you almost look like a girl. I bet that you were hoping to escape that." She said in a voice that let Kirito know one thing:

She was going to use this to black mail him, at least until he found some more 'manly' armor that what he was currently wearing.

He tried to salvage some small fraction of his pride, "Yea, well, look at you. Your face doesn't look like it'd be capable of farming right now, let alone the dirty-work that you call 'business'." He tried to sound cool and confident, but it was hard right after taking a such a big hit to one of his most insecure topics. Feeling that there was still risk to his reputation he tried to poke more fun at Argo, he said "Why don't you have your whiskers, did you decide they weren't your style?"

"No, of course not, I just ... haven't had the time to go to 'that' rock yet." She replied a little hesitantly.

Seeing this hesitation and feeling akward from that unusual response from his friend, he tried to think of something to say to make her feel better, "It's fine Argo, while 'The Rat' doesn't fit you very well right now, I think it looks really nice without those huge markings on it." He waited for his verdict, knowing that if his words were taken the wrong way, he was in for it.

Argo blinked, but she seemed to be back to her normal self, "Whatever, point is, my schedule is packed until tomorrow."

Deciding to get to buisness and out of the minefield (not that he wasn't entering another minefield), Kirito asked Argo, "So, what did you want to see me for?"

Argo feined being hurt, "Aww, Kii-bou, why would I ever need a reason to want to see you?"

"You've never looked for me unless you needed a scary face or if you want to black mail me." Kirito deadpanned.

Argo looked a little annoyed. "What about... that one time, where we went on that quest together on the fourth floor?"

"You threatened to tell everyone that I was hiding the strongest weapon in the game, and I didn't want the trouble." 'or the mass pk that would have come' he added the last part in his mind silently.

"Hmph, fine, but I don't know if I'll be able to intimidate people with you anymore, Kii-chan." She finished with a lazy smirk. Kirito's face immediatly went a little red.

Kirito was officially annoyed. "Shut up. What is it."

Deciding to get down to buisness as well, Argo took a seat and looked at Kirito. "I heard that a boss meeting is going to be held in a week, same location as it was in the beta."

Kirito looked at the table, deep in thought. He stayed in this position for a few seconds before asking, "So do I need to pay you for this information?"

Argo smirked, "Better, you need to be there. I just finished meeting with someone who told me what they remembered about the first boss, and I suspect that the information might be different. I wouldn't put it past Kayaba to change it. I want you to be there participating in the boss fight, so naturally it'd be better if you went to the strategy meeting first."

She paused, to wait for a reponse, and after seeing a nod from Kirito, she continued, "Of course I'll be there to warn them of this, but I still have to finish distributing the guides and start leveling."

"Got it, I'll see you in a week?"

"Sure, by the way, what level are you?"

He wasn't sure how his answer would compare to what she was expecting, but he said it anyways, "Level 3 and im 1/3 of the way to 4." He waited to see how Argo would react.

Kirito was rewarded when she grinned, "Way to go Kii-bou, just what I'd expect. The average level is barely level 2, and acording to my sources, the strongest people who are currently farming should reach level 3 by later this afternoon. That makes you the strongest person I know!"

Kirito felt a large amount of pride, and any insecurity about himself was gone, Argo knew a LOT of people. He tried to think of something to say, but he saw his AI clock read 1:20 and he wanted as much time as he could to get his quest done. "It's been nice seeing your Argo, but I should get going."

Argo seemed content with this and said, "Sure, I need to go too, and I'm sure you want to get your Anneal Blade."

On that note, they both left the building and went their separate ways to resume doing what they needed to be doing.

* * *

(I'm super tempted to end here, but I don't want to make a chapter two yet, so +1 Coper)

Kirito arrived at the scene and saw some of the Little Nepents that he would be targeting. He started slicing through them, sometimes engaging two or three at once after he got used to their attack patterns. After farming thirty of them, he noticed someone else had came to the opening. Knowing that they would be after his Anneal Blade, Kirito redoubled his efforts, taking on four or five on at a time sometimes, using his horizantal to cut through several of them at once. An occasional hit was taken, seeing as he was taking on so many at once, but he had some health potions that he was sipping from time to time and he had bought a LOT of them.

"So, you were a beta tester too?" The new guy asked him.

Kirito decided to humor this guy, at least until he could get his olvule. "Yea, the names Kirito, whats yours?"

"Coper" This started a silent race between them (or at least thats what it was to Kirito), so they both went back to farming nepents, occasionally glancing at the other, checking how well the other was doing.

After defeating over one hundred Little Nepents, he saw his desired item appear in one of the logs. He gave a small whoop for joy at the thought of getting his Anneal Blade.

However, when Coper looked over at Kirito, it took him all of two seconds to figure out what had just occured.

Coper had feared for this sort of situation ahead of time, however, and decided to go through with the back up plan he had created for such an occasion. After looking over the clearing for a suitable catalyst, he ran over to a nepent that had a fruit, and cut it. He then ran to the edge of the clearing, and started using his hide ability.

Kirito, who had just finished getting ready for the trip back to town, turned to leave the clearing when out of the corner of his eye he saw the fruit get cut. Then he realized what was happening. Nepents were starting to appear left and right in the clearing. He saw Coper as he went into hiding since he had already put a few points into seeking, and considered hiding too.

However, Kirito realized there was a problem hiding from mobs that didn't rely on sight and decided to put his sprint skill to work instead. He ran for the exit, getting away from some nepents that were giving chase as he sliced through several nepents in his path. He broke through and kept running, losing any last nepents that were following him, after all, they didn't use sight. It made it impossible to hide from them, but it made them slower to realize where he was since they couldn't take advantage of light bouncing off him.

Kirito reached the path back to town and kept running as fast as he could. Then he heard the scream.

That scream would haunt him for weeks to come, but he couldn't care now. Not after he knew what they'd tried to do to him.

That night, Kirito went to sleep a little sad. He'd almost been level four when he recieved his Anneal Blade, and finished getting the level when he farmed greater boars for a little bit. He had more col than he could spend at this point in the game. But remembering what had happened made him shudder. Finally, remembering that it had been an attempt on his life, he decided to try to forget it had ever happenend and just act like normal in the morning.

End Chapter

Hey guys, I just wanted to get this out so I could get a little feed back on this idea. I'm planning on a few things to separate it, maybe I'll get rid of the whiskers later, just not for now because they work really well with the theme until floor ten. Likewise, I'm also considering doing a chapter in which circumstances make Kirito look like his M9000... I like the Kirito/Asuna pairing as much as the next guy, but seriously, give it a rest. Not a single pairing of this type has been written past twenty thousand (Maybe more since the last time I checked) words, without it being a harem. I've decided to try to break that limit over the summer.

So, for this to be achieved, be sure to review. They're the reminder I use to remember to work on these, and when I don't respond to one of those, receiving a thoughtful review usually guilt trips me into working on whatever.

EDIT:

I changed a few details and changed the end of chapter scenario after I read it over again. You guys have officially guilt tripped me after two months (Season two coming out helped too) and so my travel time was spent in the back of a car typing, editing, and keeping clean... I took one scoop rather than my usual two for you guys _

Anyways, with any luck I'll be able to start on chapter two by the end of the trip or on the way back, so I'll see you soon! ^^


End file.
